Reduce your risk of stroke by maintaining normal blood pressure, not smoking, exercise regularly, living at a healthy weight, limiting your alcohol consumption, don’t get diabetes, and limit your age to 55. It’s also important to seek medical attention if you have a TIA (transient ischemic attack).

…but we knew that already. A new study involving California teachers confirmed prior findings. The Mediterranean diet reduced ischemic stroke risk by up to 18%. Ischemic strokes are your typical strokes, much more common than bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic strokes).

Stroke is the 4th or 5th leading cause of death in the U.S. Why not lower your risk by following the Mediterranean diet?

The idea is that nasty bacteria around your gums somehow cause arterial inflammation in your heart arteries, which could lead to heart attacks. I’ve written about this before.

A quote from the article:

The researchers followed 420 adults as part of the Oral Infections and Vascular Disease Epidemiology Study (INVEST), a randomly sampled prospective cohort of Northern Manhattan residents. Participants were examined for periodontal infection. Overall, 5,008 plaque samples were taken from several teeth, beneath the gum, and analyzed for 11 bacterial strains linked to periodontal disease and seven control bacteria. Fluid around the gums was sampled to assess levels of Interleukin-1β, a marker of inflammation. Atherosclerosis in both carotid arteries was measured using high-resolution ultrasound.

Over a median follow-up period of three years, the researchers found that improvement in periodontal health-health of the gums-and a reduction in the proportion of specific bacteria linked to periodontal disease correlated to a slower intima-medial thickness (IMT) progression, and worsening periodontal infections paralleled the progression of IMT. Results were adjusted for potential confounders such as body mass index, cholesterol levels, diabetes, and smoking status.

Thickening of the arterial lining is linked to higher rates of heart attack and stroke.

But, he cautioned, “it’s very important to realize that the absolute level of risk is still far lower than what has been seen with high blood pressure, diabetes, cigarette smoking, or cholesterol elevation.”

“I would not want folks to say if we simply reduced the arsenic in our drinking water, we’d get rid of coronary heart disease,” he told MedPage Today. “It’s not that simple.”

The article is based on a study of 3,500 American Indians in three states. Whether results apply to other ethnic groups is unknown.

The guidelines focus on seven factors critical to cardiovascular health:

smoking

blood sugar

blood pressure

physical activity

total cholesterol

body mass index (BMI)

ideal diet

Using data from the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities study (almost two decades’ follow-up), researchers found that those who maintained goals for six or seven of the American Heart Association critical factors had a 51% lower risk of cancer compared with those meeting no goals.

As you might expect, I was curious about what the American Heart Association considered a heart-healthy diet. I quote the AHA summary:

The recommendation for the definition of the dietary goals and metric, therefore, is as follows: “In the context of a diet that is appropriate in energy balance, pursuing an overall dietary pattern that is consistent with a DASH [Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension]-type eating plan, including but not limited to:

Fruits and vegetables: ≥ 4.5 cups per day

Fish: ≥ two 3.5-oz servings per week (preferably oily fish)

Fiber-rich whole grains (≥ 1.1 g of fiber per 10 g of carbohydrate): ≥ three 1-oz-equivalent servings per day

Sodium: < 1500 mg per day

Sugar-sweetened beverages: ≤ 450 kcal (36 oz) per week

Intake goals are expressed for a 2000-kcal diet and should be scaled accordingly for other levels of caloric intake. For example, ≤ 450 calories per week represents only up to one quarter of discretionary calories (as recommended) coming from any types of sugar intake for a 2000-kcal diet.

Diet recommendations are more complicated than that; read the full report for details. Only 5% of study participants ate the “ideal diet.” The Mediterranean diet easily meets four out of five of those diet goals; you’d have to be extremely careful to reach the sodium goal on most any diet.

Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are among the top causes of death in Western societies. Adhering to the guidelines above may kill two birds with one stone.